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This article isn't about prebendalism at all, it's an essay about corruption in Nigeria, which is compared to prebendalism with a POV conclusion and no sources whatsoever. Qwertyus 15:49, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
The previous article was not about prebendalism as Qwertyus mentioned. Much more could be said than what I wrote, but regardless, I think this is better than the bit about Nigeria which managed had little to do with prebendalism.
The Oct. 9 version was not neutral, but it was more usefully informative than the misleading dictionary-type defintion currently on display.
A prebend is a sinicure that one feels entitled to. It's origin is in Medieval Catholic bureaucracy. Prebendalism is commonly used by scholars to refer to the parton-client corruption common in Nigerian politics, because office holders feel they are entitled to whatever "profits" are available to them and the office holders' supporters feel they are entitled to a share of those "profits" as well.
When the Nigerian government delivers oil revenue checks every month to the 36 state governors, and there is little or no accountability for the use of the money, the concept of prebendalism is a useful one to describe what happens to millions of naria. When 31 of 36 governors are under investigation for corruption and two have been impeached, there is more than just politics going on. BartBee
The fact is that prebendalism has become a term used in the academic literature on Africa to describe political rent-seeking in a highly personalized regime. One sees it in both introduction to comparative politics textsbooks to the highest levels of the African politics literature. while the page leaves something to be desired in detail, the citations are all accurate and the concept is applied approprately.
the common theoretical reference point is Max Weber, who writes extensively of 'prebendalism,' 'prebendalization'etc as a unique form of patron-client relations, often connected to feudalism and mostly in reference to medieval religious and political organization. his use of the term should probably go up front in this article, alongside a sentence on the originally ecclesiastical origins of the term 'prebend.' nigeria can be included as one contemporary example where the term has been used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.36.183.27 (talk) 15:24, 3 March 2009 (UTC)